m1 garand ammo?

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lilham10809

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i heard that using regular 30-06 rounds in an m1 will cause the receiver to blow. is that true? i was watching guns and ammo on the outdoor channel (channel 118 for eastlink) and they were showing special rounds for the m1 that are made by hornidy. i was thinking about getting a garand but if i have to use surplus ammo or the hornidy made one i may reconsider. i'm the "get me a box of 30-06 please" "what brand?" "any old thing will do" type lol. help would be great

thanks
 
800 rounds of factory through mine before I started to reload. Hasn't blown up yet.

The main issue many people have with it is the heavy bullets designed for hunting, which usually weigh 180 grains. Stick the the 150 grain factory ammo, and you should never have a problem.
 
Kevin M. said:
800 rounds of factory through mine before I started to reload. Hasn't blown up yet.

The main issue many people have with it is the heavy bullets designed for hunting, which usually weigh 180 grains. Stick the the 150 grain factory ammo, and you should never have a problem.
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thanks man. so what brand do you recommend?
 
There are red box and yellow box factory loads with 147gr bullets that are quite safe for Garands. One company is Federal and the other is Remington.
 
Remington UMC is mostly what I used. Pretty cheap, can be had for under $20 a box, and the brass is fully reloadable, so keep it for yourself of sell it off once you have a bunch.
 
It's not that the "receiver will blow up", but as has been said the heavier bullet, factory ammo creates some higher pressures that can SOMETIMES damage the op rod because there isn't any sort of relief valve on M1 Garands. There are aftermarket relief valves that can easily be installed, or you can stick to the lighter bullets (150 grain), or the Hornady offerings, or you can handload any size bullet you want if you keep away from slow burning powders and keep the velocity under or at 2700 fps.
I've done the loading for mine and it shoots Sierra 165 gr bullets very well using Varget powder.
 
Like proonur said the risk is not the receiver blowing its that the pressure may damage the op rod. I've put many boxes of Remington UMC 150grs through mine with out issue, as the others have said just stay away from the heavier hunting bullets as they will up the pressure dramatically. Reloading is your best bet if you are into it, I've found that both of my Garands like 150-155 grain bullets over H4895.
 
The problem with "commerical" ammunition is what is called "port pressure". This is the pressure level at the gas port. The U. S. Rifle, Caliber .30, M1 was designed to operate within a specific range of pressure at the gas port. This port pressure is a function of not only bullet weight but powder burn rate. Each bullet weight/powder type combination gives a specific pressure curve along the barrel. The M1 rifle was designed to function with ANY standard U. S. military .30-06 ammunition (M1/M2 ball, tracer, AP ect.). As long as the pressure curve is within specifications any bullet weight can be fired from an M1 rifle. I, myself, have used 220 grain Winchester Silver Tip bullet in my M1 rifle BUT these were handloads specifically loaded for use in the M1 rifle.
 
"...is that true?..." No. JC did his own tests using 'Blue Pill' loads. High pressure test ammo. He went up in 5,000 psi increments, from the standard Blue Pill load of 70,000 psi to 120,000 psi. At that pressure, the left locking lug cracked. The same rifle, with no repairs, went on to fire a further 5,000 rounds of service ammo with no further damage.
"...have used 220 grain Winchester Silver Tip bullet in my M1 rifle..." You too? The ammo I used, long ago, was factory. No fuss. No bother. Blew a ground hog into next week though. From very close range. Impressive bullet, to say the least.
Both Federal and Hornady load ammo specifically loaded for M1's. Don't know if it's available here. Haven't used any factory centre fire for eons.
"...rifle was designed to function with ANY standard U.S. military .30-06 ammunition..." The Rifle was designed to use and all testing was done with .30 M1 ammo with it's 174.5 grain BT bullet at 2640 fps. No such thing as .30 M2 until 1939. The .30 M1 ammo was found to have too much range for National Guard ranges. So they went to a lighter, flat based bullet at 2700 fps then upped the MV, in 1940, to 2800 fps to match the ballistics of the .30 AP's 168 grain bullet. This was the standard W.W. II issue ammo.
 
proonur said:
There are aftermarket relief valves that can easily be installed
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For the small investment ($40-$50US), the Mc Cann or Schuster adjustable gas plugs are a good choice --- they offer you the flexibility of shooting any commercial 30-06 ammunition without damaging the oprod. I ordered my Mc Cann from Brownells and couldn't be more happy with it.
 
Sunray,

I should have been more specific and added without the possibility of damage. You may fire hundreds of rounds of commerical "hunting" ammunition without a problem but it only take one to bend an op rod. Does it really matter if it is after 1000 or 500 or 100 or the first.
 
For reloading-Stick with the equivelant miltary round loads to what the M1 was oringinally design for. Look for the many reputal reloading manuals that have specific loads for M1 garands. they will tell you exactly what is suitable- generally speaking meduim burning powder, 165 grain range
 
I am using 150gr Win PP and 150gr Hornady FMJs with 50g of IMR4320 or 50g H4895.

IMR4320 was cheap so I tried it. I get the odd round (like 1 or 2 in 20) that won't load so I think it is a little on the slow side and can't always kick the bolt all the way back. But it looks good on paper. The H4895 has served well.

In the past (before I was handloading) I shot a lot of Fedreal blue box. Worked well.

I also bought 440 rounds of Korean m1 ball ammo from the 50s. It was HORRIBLE. I had cases splitting and rounds blowing back in my eyes and burning the inside of the receiver and blowing my trigger assy out the bottom. I ended up pulling the lead and chucking the rest.
Very, very bad ammo. :/
 
iain53 said:
Well, a lot of things, come to think of it:D.
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I guess you could take historical re-enactment down to the most exacting minutae if you wanted. lol :D

Anyways I have been using a Mccann plug with factory ammo and it works fine, iirc Elwood Epps has them, I have been only interested in firing my garand & learning how to field strip her, not currently set up for reloading but that's coming up.

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Military ammo, M1 Ball and M2 Ball (when it came out), AP varieties also, were loaded with a very special powder which was carefully designed to deliver optimum performance in calibre .30 ammunition based on the original 1906 casing.

We call this very special powder IMR-4895 or H-4895 and it works very well indeed.

Incidentally, it is also an excellent powder in the .303 and many other military calibres.

John Garand actually was worried that the M2 Ball round might not produce ENOUGH port pressure for reliable functioning.

Check Hatcher: he IS the authority on this, not some guy who is trying to sell you something that you likely don't need.
 
I bought three cases of Federal American Eagle with 150 gr FMJs. They work great in the Garand if you can find it.

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I have also started reloading for my Garand. 48.0 grs. of Win 748 under a 150 gr fmj shoots very well.
 
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